Curated by Sam Belinfante and Neil LuckSlade Research Centre12 - 16 January 2009

the voice and nothing more (vanm) is a week-long festival exploring the voice as both medium and subject matter in contemporary arts practices. Both established and emerging artists will work with leading vocal performers and composers in an exploration of the voice outside language.

vanm is symptomatic of a growing interest in the voice across arts practices and will give leading practitioners the opportunity to work with some of the most important singers and vocal ensembles in the UK today. Importantly, vanm is the product of a desire to encourage conversations between the contemporary arts communities, conversations that will elucidate art’s complicated relationship with the voice as well as generate new processes and strategies for engaging with it. Instead of merely placing musicians and artists in one space, vanm facilitates an ongoing discourse in and around the voice with the production of new ambitious, collaborative, artworks as well as the formation of new working practices.

Artists and performers come together to generate exciting new collaborative works. Invited performers include Mikhail Karikis, Lore Lixembourg and Juice, as well as a specially formed large-scale vocal ensemble.

Performers, working with the artists and resident composer Claudia Molitor, will create new score-objects culminating in a series of new performances. Artists Martin Creed, Simon Faithfull, Dryden Goodwin, Bruce Mclean and Cornelia Parker along with emerging artists Athanasios Argianas, Amy Cunningham, Nick Laessing, Phoebe Unwin and Sarah Kate Wilson are just some of the 50+ artists taking part.

To help launch the festival leading artist and educator Simon Morris will lecture on the voice ~

Wednesday 14 January from 12pm

The festival will culminate with a presentation of groundbreaking objects/installations/performances, open to the public ~

Thursday 15 and Friday 16 January from 6pm where performances will start from 7pm

Tourism officials in Australia are describing it as "the best job in the world".They want someone to work on a tropical island off the Queensland coast.No formal qualifications are needed but candidates must be willing to swim, snorkel, dive and sail.In return, the successful applicant will receive a salary of A$150,000 ($103,000, £70,000) for six months and get to live rent-free in a three-bedroom villa, complete with pool.

Feeding fish.Anthony Hayes, Chief Executive, Tourism Queensland, said: "It doesn't sound too bad does it? We are looking for someone to tell the stories of the Great Barrier Reef and we have come up with what we think is the dream job."The post is being advertised as "caretaker" on Hamilton Island in Australia's Whitsunday Islands.The new recruit will work for just 12 hours a month. Duties include feeding some of the hundreds of species of fish and collecting the island's mail.They will also need to prepare a blog, a photo diary and video updates to attract tourists to the area."There are hundreds of islands scattered along the Great Barrier Reef," Mr Hayes told the BBC. "We are looking for someone who can go and explore all the different islands then report back to the world on what they see."We need a special person. They are going to be pretty busy having a good time."Hamilton Island, where the temperature is warm all year round, is the largest inhabited island in the region. It boasts blue skies, crystal water and pure sands.

Thousands of applicationsAbout two million tourists visit the various islands each year, but most stay on the mainland and visit only on day trips.The job is being advertised around the world. Candidates have until 22 February to submit an online video application. In May, 10 shortlisted candidates and one wildcard, voted for by visitors to the Tourism Queensland website, will be invited to the islands for a four-day final interview process. The successful candidate will start the new job on 1 July. Mr Hayes says he is expecting thousands of applications: "I'm having to beat my staff off with a stick at the moment because most of them want to apply too."

About the project

The Nauru Project is an artists' collaboration based around the South Pacific island of Nauru, the world's smallest island-nation. The project involves exchanging and gathering online findings on Nauru, obscure islands, experimental micro-nations, island-related art projects, and the production of artwork among a group of artists and online Nauru enthusiasts. It is run by Maria Georgoula.